Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-interest

Front Cover
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1996 - Business & Economics - 264 pages
Stewardship was provocative, even revolutionary, when it was first published in 1993, and it remains every bit as relevant and radical today. Most organizations still rely on patriarchy and hierarchy as their core form of governance, stifling initiative and spirit and alienating people from the work they do. Peter Block asserts that a fundamental shift in how we distribute power, privilege, and the control of money can transform every part of an organization for the better, and he examines the nitty-gritty of implementing these reforms.

This revised and expanded edition includes a new introduction by Block addressing what has and hasn't changed since the first edition and a new chapter on applying stewardship to the common good of the wider community. This visionary yet pragmatic book is sure to open your mind and change the way you do your job forever.
 

Selected pages

Contents

REPLACING YOUR KINGDOM WITH STEWARDSHIP
3
Choosing Partners
7
Choosing Empowerment
8
Choosing Service
9
We Dont Act on What We Know
10
The Leadership Question
13
The Underbelly of Leadership
15
The Stewardship Answer
18
Mandated Supplier
122
Mandated Services
123
Offering Choice and Building Capability
126
Service Guarantee
132
FINANCIAL PRACTICES CREATING ACCOUNTABILITY WITH SELFCONTROL
135
The Money Is the Message
137
Building Widespread Financial Stewardship
138
Living within the Law
144

Stewardship and Building Organizations
19
CHOOSING PARTNERSHIP OVER PATRIARCHY
23
Distributing Ownership and Responsibility
25
Partnership as the Alternative
27
Balancing Power
28
Four Requirements of Partnership
29
Partner in Charge
31
CHOOSING ADVENTURE OVER SAFETY
33
Entitlement Is Empowerment Run Aground
34
Choosing Empowerment
35
Stewardship Begins at Home
38
CHOOSING SERVICE OVER SELFINTEREST
41
Teaching Revolution to the Ruling Class
44
Rank without Privilege
47
Connecting the Heart and the Wallet
48
The Point
49
The Redistribution of Power Purpose and Wealth
53
Sometime Later in the Week
55
DEFINING THE STEWARDSHIP CONTRACT
63
Principles for the Practice
64
The Stewardship Contract
68
UPSETTING EXPECTATIONS THE EMOTIONAL WORK OF STEWARDSHIP
75
The Trail Is Inside Out
76
Facing the Wish for Dependency and Dominance
77
Where Is Everyone?
80
Everyone Is on the Bus
81
Just Say No
85
REDESIGNING MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND STRUCTURES
91
Management Practices
97
Changing Basic Architecture
100
The Phone Center Story
108
RETHINKING THE ROLE OF STAFF FUNCTIONS
115
In the Service of Top Management
116
Police and Conscience to the Line
118
HUMAN RESOURCES ENDING THE PRACTICE OF PATERNALISM
147
Institutional Caretaker
148
The Structure of Human Resources
150
Human Resource Practices That Support Stewardship
152
COMPENSATION AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OVERTURNING THE CLASS SYSTEM
161
The Divine Right of Kings
162
Pay Reinforces Class Distinctions
164
Performance Not for Sale
167
Rank Individualism
170
Confusing Supervisory Evaluations with Performance
172
Pay for Empire
173
The End of Caretaking
181
The Triumph of Hope over Experience
183
COSMETIC REFORM WHEN THE DISEASE BECOMES THE CURE
185
The Open Office
186
Patriarchy Recreating Itself
190
RECREATING OUR ORGANIZATION THROUGH STEWARDSHIP
203
Stewardship Strategy for Political Reform
204
Steps toward Political Reform
214
The Answer to the Power Company Story Sometime Later in the Week
218
CYNICS VICTIMS AND BYSTANDERS
221
The Power of the Cynic
222
Rescuing the Victim
224
Facts Wont Help
226
Treating Caution as a Choice
227
The Opening of Eyes
232
CHOOSING FREEDOM SERVICE AND ADVENTURE
233
How? Is a Defense
234
Democracy on the Line
238
Lost and Found
243
The Artist
255
The Author
256
Index
257
Copyright

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About the author (1996)

Peter Block is the author of eight books and a partner in the training company Designed Learning. He is the recipient of many awards--including the Organization Development Network's Lifetime Achievement Award and ASTD's Award for Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning--and was named to Training Magazine's HRD Hall of Fame.

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